ZUBAIR QURESHI
As part of efforts to promote human security, the Government of Japan has decided to provide financial assistance of US$ 236,230 for four social development projects in education and rural electrification in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces. The grants will be provided to four national NGOs, namely, Learning Awareness & Motivation Programme (LAMP) in Khyber district, Friends Welfare Association (FWA) in Torghar district, Hana Development Council (HDC) in Mandi Bahauddin district and Actions for Human Advancement (AHAT) in Kasur district. According to a statement issued by the Japan embassy on Thursday human security was an idea, focusing on individual member of community, to promote and strengthen the community and independence of each person with protection and capability development in order to achieve rich potential of each member of community. There are variety of areas that Japan government has been extending assistance with this idea in Pakistan and education is one of the very focused area as education is the equal basic right for everybody to enjoy, will be a tool for everybody to develop its own potential, and naturally resulting in the accomplishment of sustainable development of each nation. Giving a break-up of the grant, the Japan embassy statement explains the grant of US$ 73,514 provided to LAMP will be utilized for the expansion of a primary section of the school for boys and girls in a village of Khyber district to overcome the problem of overcrowded classrooms. Currently, the school having classes from Play Group till Grade 10 has over 950 enrollment, and over 300 students sit outside their classrooms in open space because of the limited sitting capacity in the classrooms. Earlier, the school was expanded up to grade 10 with the financial assistance provided by the Government of Japan in financial year 2011 and 2015. The grant of US$ 64,868 provided to Friends Welfare Association will be spent for the construction of a building for primary and middle school in Torghar district of KPK. At present over 130 girls and boys use the premises of a local mosque for their classes because of the lack of availability of school building
